


Oh, That'd Be Reason Enough For Me

by Chash



Series: Neeeeeeeeeerds [5]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 06:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3757690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Junior year of college, Clarke gets a nemesis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh, That'd Be Reason Enough For Me

**Author's Note:**

> My friend Steve pretty much sketched out this plot all by himself, and I was so proud of him for spontaneously writing his own timestamp that I immediately wrote it. Friendship is tragic. Also, if you like Ayn Rand, there is some Ayn-Rand-bashing in here, so, you know. That's a thing I never expected to warn for. Title from Clueless.

"So, just so I'm clear on this," says Bellamy, "you're taking a class from a guy you hate. Because you hate him." He sounds like he's trying very hard not to laugh at her.

"He's wrong about everything."

"Yeah, that's what I look for in my professors."

"He likes _Ayn Rand_ , Bellamy. _Ayn Rand_! And he's teaching an introduction to moral philosophy. He's going to destroy so many young minds!"

"So your plan is to take his class, argue with him the whole time, and save everyone from the horrors of objectivism?"

"Pretty much," she says. "Also, I'm going to get an A and then I'm going to rub his face in it."

Bellamy gives up and starts laughing. "That's a solid plan," he says, when he recovers. "How much of the stuff you do is just to piss people off, Princess? Give me a percentage estimate."

"Seventy-five," she says promptly. "Conservatively."

He snorts. "And I used to think I was special."

"Rookie mistake," she says, and pre-registers for the stupid class.

*

Clarke has known Cage Wallace for about as long as she can remember. He's ten years older than she is, but his dad is Dean of Students at Ark, so he was always kind of around when she was a kid, at college events and the country club, on the periphery of her awareness. He filtered back into her life around her parents' divorce, at his father's annual Christmas party, which she already hated, and which only got worse when he was there spouting gross, classist bullshit about the college wasting its money on overly generous financial aid policies. They'd gotten into it in the most polite, passive-aggressive way possible, and ever since he's gone out of his way to bring her punch and tell her what an intelligent young woman she is, and she's tried to figure out ways to discreetly spit in his drinks.

Needless to say, when she finds out he's finished his PhD and is coming back to teach at Ark, she decides she's going to be front and center in his class until he fucks off.

*

It turns out Jasper is in the class too, as a bonus; Clarke hasn't seen him much since high school, although they're still close in the Facebook friends/sitting together if they're at the dining hall at the same time/drunkenly hugging at parties way. His girlfriend is a philosophy major, so he's in intro to try to gain an appreciation of her field. When he asks Clarke what she's doing there, she settles on, "Trolling," because there really isn't a better description for what she's doing.

("You know how much each hour of class time is costing you, right?" Bellamy asked, amused. "You are paying _so much_ for the privilege of pissing this guy off."

"My mom is paying," she shot back, glad they can sort of joke about money these days. "And she hates him too.")

"Do we have to sit in the front row?" Jasper asks.

"I do, you don't."

Wallace comes in wearing a tie and jeans and looking like a douchebag. Clarke doesn't think this is just her bias; he looks like he's trying to be a cool professor and just comes off as a total dick. She's not sure it's possible for him to look casual and approachable. He's not actually capable of it.

He spots her almost instantly, and she catches the flash of his scowl before he pulls himself together. It makes her sit up straighter and square her shoulders, the picture of earnest scholastic attention. She's going to be the mature one. At least, as far as he knows, she is.

"Welcome, everyone," says Cage, deliberately not looking at her, even though she's sitting right in front of him. "This is an introduction to moral philosophy. If any of you are in the wrong room, now is the time to leave." He does look at her at that, and she smiles back, serene. His jaw clenches, and he picks up a stack of papers. "All right, then. We'll start by reviewing the syllabus."

*

The college is having a reception for new faculty, and of course Clarke's mom is making her go to network. Clarke is making Bellamy go because she absolutely does not want to be there alone, and as her boyfriend, he's required to go to awful shit with her.

"I don't think that was part of the agreement," he says.

"It was implied. Besides, you haven't met the new Latin professor yet, right? You can expand _your_ network."

"There is no way you're going to make this sound fun for me."

"We can wad up balls of paper and try to throw it in Wallace's hair without him noticing."

Bellamy snorts. "Are you sure you're twenty?"

"You know you want to."

"I am kind of interested in meeting him," Bellamy admits. "I didn't know you had a nemesis."

"He's a rich, spoiled asshole who believes in bootstraps and tax cuts from the one percent," she says. "Just as a warning. If he starts talking shit about how we give out too much money to students in need, you're going to need to stop me from punching him."

"How about I hold his arms while you punch him instead?"

"Getting expelled together, totally romantic." She bumps her shoulder against his. "But seriously, thanks for coming. It's going to be awful."

He shrugs with just one shoulder. "I'm legal to drink. I'll be fine."

As soon as they arrive they make a beeline to the free food, which is way fancier and better than the dining halls. Cage finds them there in under ten minutes; he brought punch for her, of course. It's asshole tradition. "Clarke," he says, all false-politeness. "I was surprised to see your name on my class roster. I didn't know you were interested in philosophy. My father said you were majoring in--art, was it?"

"Double-major," Clarke says brightly. "Studio art and psychology." 

"That's wonderful. What are you hoping to get out of my class?"

"An introduction to moral philosophy." Bellamy hides his snicker with a cough, and Clarke says, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm being rude. This is my boyfriend, Bellamy Blake. Bellamy, this is my old friend Cage Wallace. He's teaching my intro philosophy class this semester."

"Nice to meet you," says Bellamy, offering his hand. 

"I'm sure," says Cage, shaking. "You work in the library, I believe? I've seen you there. And somewhere else."

All the library jobs are work study for kids on financial aid, which is like half the school, but of course Cage is going to be a dick about it anyway. He's Cage. "I bartend Thursdays at Killigan's," Bellamy offers, all smooth politeness. "Ladies night. Very popular."

Cage looks like he's sucking a lemon, which means Bellamy's on target. "It must be the library," he says. "If you'll excuse me."

"That was the best thing I've ever seen," Clarke declares after he leaves, and drags Bellamy off to make out in the coat room. 

Definitely one of her more successful faculty party experiences.

*

"He's a sadist, right? Or is he a masochist? I always get them confused," says Jasper. "Is there a mnemonic?"

Clarke gives him an amused look. "A sado-masochism mnemonic?" They're in the library for the fourth straight day this week, because Cage gives an amount of homework that goes beyond unreasonable and into, well. 

"Sadist," says Bellamy. He's shelving books behind them. "Not masochist."

"You're just lucky your boyfriend works here," Jasper grumbles. "I haven't seen Maya in a week. I haven't even had a chance to impress her with my new skills! All this work for nothing."

"Maybe you're growing as a person," Clarke says. She makes a face at the reading. "God, I can't believe this bullshit," she says, highlighting something. "This is the fucking worst assignment of all time."

"Watch your mouth, Princess," says Bellamy absently. "There could be kids here."

"Professor Wallace is a fucking shitweasel," she says, glaring at him. "I bet the kids don't know that word. I'm educational."

"I dunno, some of this makes sense to me," says Jasper, wisely ignoring them.

"No it doesn't," says Clarke, jabbing her pen at him. "None of this makes sense. He is wrong about everything."

"I don't know if I should really be studying with you. You're a bad influence." He glances at her notes. "Is your thesis really EVERYTHING YOU BELIEVE IS SHIT CAGE?"

"It's a first draft."

"Clearly. You forgot the comma between shit and Cage," says Bellamy, leaning over her shoulder. Clarke snorts and adds it. "Much better."

"You guys are going to make me fail this class, aren't you," Jasper says sadly.

"Maybe. But I'm saving your relationship. Your philosophy major girlfriend is definitely going to dump you if you get into Ayn Rand."

*

Clarke works her ass off on her first paper. It's exhaustively researched. It's edited to hell and back. Bellamy swears she's talking about it in her sleep, but she's like ninety-percent sure he's just fucking with her. The thing is flawless, everyone agrees.

She gets it back covered in red notes, with a D- and full page of written comments at the end.

"Please don't kill me," says Jasper, when he sees. "I think I have time for a lunch date on Saturday. That's the bio-chem double-major equivalent of my last day before retirement. I'm a marked man."

"Why would I kill you?" she asks, grinning. "This means I'm _winning_."

She hears Jasper mutter something about how she's _fucking terrifying_ as she goes up to Cage's desk.

"Grades aren't up for debate, Miss Griffin," he says, without looking up. "You have my notes."

"Do you accept written rebuttals?" she asks.

That gets him to look at her. "No."

"All right. I tried."

She spends all that weekend reading over ever single note and typing up the rebuttal anyway. It's twice as long as her original paper, better sourced, and completely dispassionate. It's factual, reasonable, and well-argued. 

"You're the scariest person I've ever met," Bellamy says, after she makes him read it for the fourth time. It's about forty-percent so he can check for errors and sixty-percent so he can tell her how awesome she is. "I'm honestly kind of worried about you."

"I'm hoping he'll quit before the end of the year."

"It's good to set realistic goals for yourself." He hands the paper back. "It's perfect, seriously. What are you doing with it again? You know Professor Wallace isn't going to listen to you."

She gives him her biggest, brightest grin. "I know."

*

Clarke doesn't actually hate Dante Wallace, which is weird. She assumed she would, because his son is such a dick and he had to get that from somewhere, but Dante has continuously proved to be a nice, reasonable guy who's genuinely interested in her as a person. It's kind of weird, honestly. Since he's also the Dean of Students, he's the most logical person for her to bring her case to. Her professor is being unreasonable in his grading. His feedback is unfounded. She feels he's being unfair.

"I know I'm putting you in an awkward position," she says, and she even means it. It sucks that she's complaining about his son to him. "But he said the grades weren't up for debate, and I felt like this was my only option."

"There's no need to apologize," says Dante. "This is my job. I'm just sorry that you feel you've been unjustly treated."

He checks over the assignment, her marked up paper, her carefully reasoned rebuttal. She's not worried; she knows she's _right_ , that Cage is being an asshole. All her bad intentions don't matter, because she's been perfectly, completely, utterly civil. She's on the level. 

She's killing Cage with kindness, and it's totally working.

Dante's frown deepens as he studies the papers. "I'll see if I can get Cage in here," he tells her, and she doesn't smirk triumphantly, but it's a close thing. 

Ten minutes later, the two of them are seated side-by-side in front of Dante's desk, like they've just been called in to the principal's office.

"You went to _my dad_?" Cage asks her, incredulous.

"I went to the Dean of Students," says Clarke. "You said the grades weren't up for debate, I thought you were being unreasonable."

"She was right to do it," says Dante. "This is not an acceptable treatment of a student, Professor Wallace. I've reviewed the assignment, your feedback, and Miss Griffin's counterpoints. Her initial paper was well-written, well-researched, and completely fulfilled all the criteria you set out."

"It was wrong."

"You disagree with her," says Dante. "That doesn't mean she didn't write a good paper. And I believe you know that."

Cage looks at her with venom in his eyes; Clarke keeps her face calm and unemotional. 

"I'll update the grade," he says, like it's actually painful. "A."

"Good. And I hope I won't have to speak with the two of you about this again."

*

On Thursday, she goes to celebrate at Killigan's, which mostly means making fun of drunk people with Bellamy and sadly not taking advantage of two-for-one shots for ladies because he refuses to risk his job to illegally sell her alcohol. Which she can't really argue with. She also brings her philosophy reading, because Cage has upped their workload again, probably out of spite.

If she happens to to spot Cage trying to get his flirt on and raises her glass to him, well, no one can prove that's not a friendly gesture, right?

"There is something seriously wrong with you," says Bellamy, with clear admiration in his voice.

"I love you too. Can you spit in his drink?"

"Way ahead of you, Princess."

*

Her next paper has just as much red on it, just as many outraged _this is a naive way of thinking you cannot possibly believe_ comments filling every margin, but something his father said must have gotten through, because he gives her the A.

*

Tragically, the Wallace Christmas party is before grades are posted, so she doesn't have her actual A to rub in his face yet, but she knows it's coming. Even if he tries to hose her on her class participation grade (which would be on him, because he's the one who refuses to call on her), she'll still get an A-. She's definitely winning this party.

He finds her while she's watching Bellamy actually successfully interact with other humans, which means she's at her most charitable. 

"What were you trying to do, really?" Cage asks, shoving the traditional glass of punch at her. "I turned in grades yesterday, you have the A, you can be honest."

Clarke sips her drink, thinks about it. She probably could be honest. "I wanted to see if you were a good teacher," she says. It's the most charitable version of the truth.

"And?"

"You gave me a D on my first paper because I disagreed with you, what do you think?"

His mouth tightens like he wants to argue, but he says, "Fair enough."

"If you stop failing students who think you're full of shit, you might be passable some day."

"Thanks," he says, with a sneer. "You--"

"Hi, it's Professor Wallace, right?" Clarke's not sure if Bellamy's planning to stop a fight breaking out or just provide backup, but either way, she's grateful when he appears at her shoulder. "Nice to see you again."

"You as well. Bellamy, was it?" She's reluctantly impressed that Cage not only remembered his name, but didn't pretend not to.

"Yeah," says Bellamy. "How did your first semester go? Aside from Clarke."

"Well," says Cage, short enough that Clarke is sure it's a lie.

"What are you teaching next semester?"

"The Ethics of Wartime and An Overview of Classical Philosophy."

"Oh," says Bellamy, the picture of innocent surprise. "I'm in that Classical Philosophy class."

Cage doesn't say anything for a moment, but there's a twitch at his eye that's definitely the most rewarding thing that's happened to her this week. Finally he settles on, "Then I look forward to seeing you next semester." He makes a show of spotting someone across the room. "I believe my father is looking for me. Good talking to you both."

"You are so lucky that class fulfills my major requirements," Bellamy tells her, but he's laughing.

"So lucky." She considers. "You know, that ethics class actually sounds kind of interesting."

Bellamy hooks his arm around her neck in his favorite semi-headlock hug. "He'll probably just teach you that you're employing terrorist tactics to get him to quit."

"Maybe I'll find some new strategies. And I haven't filled my last class slot."

Bellamy shakes his head. He still can't hide his smile. "You're a fucking menace," he says. "I'm drawing the line at war crimes, okay?"

Clarke extends her hand, and they shake on it, all business. "Deal."

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Podfic - Oh That'd Be Reason Enough for Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7664383) by [bienenalster (pinkspider)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkspider/pseuds/bienenalster)




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